Community Employment Resource Centre

What’s Inside?

What’s Inside for the Mature Woman?

Feature Article: Emotional Well -Being – How about a thought adjustment?

Ask a Wise Woman…

Personal Goal of the Month

Resources

Quote of the Month

About our Feature Article … Do you find yourself thinking negatively about finding work? About yourself? Your abilities? Many women can make “mistakes” in their thinking and it can really hinder your job search and your whole outlook. Take a look at our feature article inside and see if you recognize yourself and can make some positive changes.

Ask a Wise Woman …

Dear Wise Woman,

I am feeling very stressed about the holidays! I have a daughter who only wants expensive presents. I can’t afford to buy her what she wants because I don’t have a lot of money. I was job searching but I just don’t have the energy to job search now, plus I think I’m getting a cold!! HELP!

~ Lois in Cobourg

Dear Lois,

“T’is the Season” to be overwhelmed and when we are stressed and tired, we’re most likely to succumb to whatever bug is floating around … so, first of all – Take Care of Yourself!! Are you – getting enough sleep? Going for a walk regularly? Eating breakfast every day? Next… put Xmas and Money in perspective. You are not the only one who is trying to minimize the financial burden at this time of year. Maybe you and your daughter should focus on the “True Spirit of Christmas.” Give gifts of Action and Time together – spruce up her bedroom, make a few natural arrangements to brighten your rooms for the winter, scrap booking, plan winter activities such as skating, a walk in the park to enjoy the Xmas light display in Cobourg… to mention a few ideas. Give yourself a gift, Lois, take time to continue your job search. Come into CERC and find out what’s new … get your fabulous resume out there!!!

How do you contact a Wise Woman? Email: cerc@cercnorthumberland.com

Personal Goal of the Month

Your personal goal of the month may also be your New Year’s Resolution:

Challenge thoughts that undermine what you

want to achieve in your life, work and otherwise.

Resources

Visit www.homemakers.com for simple ways to beat unhealthy holiday habits.

Quote of the Month

“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”

~ Marcus Aurelius

We wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season

Emotional Well-Being – How about a thought adjustment? Source: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Mistakes in Thinking All or Nothing Thinking: Seeing things in black and white. If you don’t have it all, you have nothing Catastrophizing: Magnifying and catastrophizing, in a negative way, the outcome of a single event or situation - Disqualifying the Positive: Being unable to accept the positive about yourself - Emotional Reasoning: Making an emotion into a statement about reality - Fortune-Telling: The assumption that you should have been able to foretell the consequences of a particular action or decision - Mind Reading: Jumping to conclusions, making assumptions about the thoughts of another person without testing the validity of the assumption - Minimizing: Inappropriately shrinking the importance of an event or situation - Perfectionism: Performance must be 100% perfect all of the time otherwise you feel disgraced, unworthy or unlovable - Personalization: Taking too much responsibility for events or believing events are a personal attack - Overgeneralization: Taking a single event and generalizing it into a global interpretation - Uncritical Acceptance of Critics: Blind acceptance of others’ negative impressions of you - Comparative Thinking: Consistent negative comparisons of yourself to others -	Produces this Thought: “There is only one way to success, and since I didn’t choose it, things will never work out for me.” “The project is ruined – I will never get that promotion.” “I may have done well today, but wait until I screw something up tomorrow.” “I feel inadequate, therefore I must be inadequate.” “I should have known that doing it that way would not work.” “I know everybody thinks I am a failure.” “The situation can’t be as bad as everyone says. There’s no need to do anything about it.” “If I don’t have all my work done by the end of the day, every day then I have not done a good job and am a sub-standard employee.” “She didn’t say “Good Morning.” She must be mad at me.” “It didn’t work this time, so what makes me think this will ever work out?” “My husband keeps telling me that success passed me by a long time ago.” “Everyone will always be more successful than I am.”	A Healthier Thought: “Success has many paths and I will have to find one that fits for me.” “It is too bad that the project didn’t work - I’ll have other opportunities to demonstrate my capabilities.” “I am pleased with my accomplishments. They give me the confidence to keep striving.” “Sometimes I have bad days but I know I am a good person.” “There was no way of knowing the outcome beforehand. I learned something which will help me in the future.” “People seem to be acting strangely lately. I’ll have to find out what is on my co-workers’ minds.” “I should find out more about what is happening and try to do something about it if I can.” “I may not have my work done by the end of the day, but I did the best I could and what I did accomplish was worthwhile.” “She didn’t say “Good Morning”. Maybe she got up on the wrong side of the bed.” “My plan didn’t work out this time but I’ll figure out what went wrong and try again.” “Even though my husband doesn’t have much faith in my abilities, I know that I am capable of achieving my goals.” “I am doing the best I can and that is good enough.”